Heavy Joyful Heart

I woke up this morning with a heavy but joyful heart.  The last two mornings the first thing I have thought of is our CLOSE court date and how soon I will  meet my son.  But this morning, the second thought that ran through my mind almost as quickly was that his relative will reliquinsh rights in less than a week and how heartbroken this relative must be.  I have spent the day burdened by this thought.  I have also been wondering when SS will be told he has a family, and ... will he be happy to hear that news?  I SO want him to be happy and we pray daily that God will place in SS's heart an understanding that we love him and want him and that he is already a Porter in our hearts.  So, while I celebrate the wonderful news this week - it is possible that there is a gentlemen in Ethiopia grieving for what he is selflessly doing next week, all because he loves SS so much!!

COURT DATE!!!

We received the amazing news today that we have been assigned a May 9th court date!!  Praise Jesus!  We will get to meet our son on May 8th and become his parents on May 9th - Lord willing! 

Psalm 66:16,19-20
Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what He has done for me.
God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld His love from me!"

Blessed in the waiting

The one thing I know about adoption is it will require a tremendous amount of patience.  It seems at every turn the name of the game is hurry up, hurry up and WAIT!!  We waited for news about a little boy ready to be adopted, we waited for God's clear direction on which way to go between 2 boys, we waited for the official referral paperwork, we waited for support raising and funds to officially accept the referral, we waited to be submitted to court .... and NOW we wait for word on our court date.  We were submitted to court a week ago and are hopeful we will receive word of an assigned court date soon.  The hardest thing about waiting is staying busy and keeping my eyes on the Lord.  I have been very blessed that HE has provided opportunity for both of these things.  It isn't hard to stay busy when I homeschool 4 children, have a VERY VERY VERY active 2 year old, care for 2 goats - one of which is pregnant, train a new puppy, help Craig run a home health agency,  and study like crazy for my Bible class.  Keeping my eyes on HIM is a different story... it's so easy for me to get too busy for prayer, too preoccupied for reading His Word, too overwhelmed to depend on Him for everything.  But HE is faithful and has provided me opportunity after opportunity to remain in HIM.  Craig and I were blessed to go to Laguna Beach for the Seed Company conference.  I have so much on my heart that I want to share, once I process it all.  Truly amazing organization and truly amazing kingdom vision !!!!  I also am blessed to be studying systematic theology once a week thru a Bible class at church.  I love all that I am learning about our sovereign and mighty God!

I can hardly wait to post once we get our court date!! I continue to be humbled and blessed by the amazing adoption journey.  I am SO grateful God calls us to care for the orphans - James 1:27.  It has changed our family and has certainly changed me. 

Our Family is Growing

 It has been ONE year since we brought Aster home from Ethiopia.  The time has gone so quickly and at the same time we feel as though she has always been a part of us.  There is no doubt that God ordained her as a Porter long before we ever even knew Aster's name.  Many of you helped bring our Aster home and your prayers and contributions have blessed our family beyond what words can express.  Our faith has been deepened and the journey has been so sweet, that we could hardly wait to do it again!

 

Our hearts are full as we eagerly anticipate the adoption of our son, also from Ethiopia.  We look forward to sharing all the details, very soon, but for now all we can say is that he is a little boy, under the age of 5 and we are over the moon with excitement!!  We anticipate being able to share more in a few weeks. 

Between now and then, however, we need to do some MAJOR fundraising.  Fundraising in and of itself makes me very uncomfortable, but I also know that it is a beautiful opportunity to see God's faithfulness to our family, our son and hopefully you, as you witness our story.  In order to say 'yes' to our son, we need to raise $13,000 - by February 7th.  This is a BIG number with a short time frame, but our God is big and I know 'the One I've trusted in can take care of what He's trusted me to do right to the end.' (2 Tim 1:12 The Message).

Among other things, we are once again selling 147 million orphan t-shirts.  We have partnered with this organization in the past and appreciate all they have done to help us bring our children home.

These items are along the right side of this page.  Please let me know if you have any questions or need help with your order.

In advance - please accept our gratitude - our heartfelt THANK YOU!!

Changes

Change seems to be the common thread that ties our days, weeks and months together over the past year. In the last several weeks my heart has reflected on all of the changes we have experienced in the past 18 months: we moved to a new home, traveled to Ethiopia 3 times for me and 4 times for Craig in a 9 month period, Craig left a very secure job that the world deemed succesful, we started a company together, and best of all we met and brought home our beautiful Aster. Like I said, BIG and wonderful changes in many areas of our family. Looking back over these changes, I realize that while they were difficult the place God has brought us to is amazing and rewarding and like nothing I ever imagined we would get to experience. I am SO grateful for a courageous husband who is willing to follow God's path and not the world's -- who is willing to go on this crazy journey of adoption with me and said yes to it AGAIN and for children that have embraced all that God has called us to with grace, humility and love. Their love for Aster is bigger and brighter than anything I have ever seen!!
And so, with all of these changes we are not content to sit still and settle into our newly fashioned life as we know it, we hear God calling us forward to more changes. For now, we are trusting God as we move forward with another adoption. We have been working on this adoption for well over a year now - in our planning it was supposed to happen at the same time as Aster's adoption, but God, in all His sovereignity has a different plan and a different child than we had originally believed. Heartbreaking as this week has been, we continue to trust and know that HE has a child already ordained as a part of our family and we wait with excited anticipation to see his/her face.
This adoption is much different for us because our financial situation is much different this time. While last time we needed to fundraise for some of the adoption costs, this time we need to fundraise for ALL of the adoption costs. Again, we choose to trust GOD, knowing He has it all covered. I will post our new fundraising items later this weekend, but as a preview, we will have newly designed necklaces and personalized scripture journals. We have an adoption jar that we are putting our funds in as a visual reminder of God's provision for our next child. I know and have seen that He will not leave them as orphans, He will bring them home.